Zoom announces new updates in response to privacy criticisms

After much criticism over its privacy and security policies, Zoom is looking to bounce back and consolidate the sweeping gains it made in March as millions across the world isolated in response to COVID-19.

In direct response to the heavy criticism it has received recently from reports of meeting-spying and shoddy privacy protocols, Zoom has announced ‘robust’ security enhancements in its new update Zoom 5.0.

Intense scrutiny was aimed at the company when it emerged that, despite Zoom advertising its service as having ‘end-to-end’ encryption, in reality, it did not, or at least not in the commonly accepted definition of the term.

Zoom also faced reports of ‘Zoom-bombing’ – the act of threat actors covertly hacking into Zoom meetings to eavesdrop, and an ongoing lawsuit in California in which Zoom was accused of sharing user data with Facebook.

The company says the update, which is slated for release ‘within the week’ is a key milestone in its three-month plan to identify and enhance its privacy and security capabilities.

The primary change in its protocol comes in the form of new support for AES 256-bit GCM encryption.